Tuesday, 25 November 2008

The Weekly Portrait: Dr. Mathieson

Some years ago I was talking with a rough character in the local pub at Warkworth where I lived for 20 years. We got on the subject of Doctors and my companion told me of a rash he had on his hands and forearms which he took to a local Doctor to look at. The Doctor looked at it and without a word began to write out a prescription, probably for antihistamine. My companion told how he got very angry at this and abused the Doctor in no uncertain terms and stormed out vowing not to pay for the visit, big drama because the Doctor could not or would not tell him what the rash was and why the rash was but would without much thought add some kind of drug to the patients system.....He took his rash to Doctor Mathieson, the other Doctor in town at the time and Doctor Mathieson looked at the rash and asked him if he worked in tomatoes?Yes picking tomatoes on a local farm and Doctor Mathieson told him that tomatoes exude a substance on their skins that keeps mould at bay and that some people's skin reacted to this natural defense of the fruit and advised my companion to get a different job.That was when Doctor Mathieson was added to my list of heroes and much later we became friends and would share stories and I would draw...

Thanks Bernie, I am an amatuer collector of interesting stories, I may well be a frustrated writer but meanwhile I enjoy painting portraits and pondering the philosophical musings of people such as yourself.Just for fun, you know, as I search for relevance...